The Knowhere Guide

Eating and Drinking in Bradford, West Yorkshire*

Bradford, West Yorkshire Pubs, Cafes, Coffee Shops and Restaurants

Food

• for the best ice cream try the new zeland natural ice cream in the kirgate center
• shezan is excellent for cheeseburgers!
• Hmmm....Dihorrea, Botchalism, or generic food poisoning?
• Way out of the town centre, but if you're heading for Bingley, there's an F&C called the Hungry Haddock run by the sweetest little Greek guy (no, not in that sense, girls, he's old enough to be your Dad). However, this place does the BEST chip butty you've ever tasted, so well worth a try if you're passing.
• Fryer Tuck Fish Restaurant and take away, 1060 Manchester Road, Bankfoot, Bradford, Tradional fish and chips at very competitive prices in pleasant surroundings and attended to by our friendly staff. Also licensed and with varied menu. Large car / bus park to the rear. Ideal for larger parties. tel 01274.723773
• Akbars on Leeds Road - really tasty indian food at a great price - Really! The best in the town.
• Angelo's Italian (near queens hall) is gorgeous! Hogshead not bad during the day. Balti Chef near JB's on manor row is top place for a good balti!
• Angelo's on Great Horton Rd behind the Alhambra has a lovely atmosphere, friendly service and wonderful food.....it's very reasonably priced as well.
• Mumtaz. Sweet Centre. Habibs on Barkerend Rd (no booze license despite being a converted pub, but you can take you're own). The Kashmir near Queens Hall (uni area) sells cheap currys, best eaten 3am. The McDo of curry houses.
• Kashmir.
• Fish and chips at Queens Square.
• The Old Fatty Arbuckles (Now called The Experience), Pizza Hut, Burger King
• There is a new Sandwich shop opening on Great Horton Road, Subway, next door to Jacksons. It will sell a wide variety of freshly made sandwiches, salads etc, all made to your specific order. Look out for the 'sandwich artists' A great place for students, as it is located at the hub of the University/College area.
• Curry's - lots and very cheap - try Kasmir
• Akhbars - Leeds Road by far the best curry house in Bradford (in the world). Excellent food, reasonable prices and they serve beer.
• MCDO,BURGER KING,WENDY'S,PIZZA HUT!!
• Orlandos, on the Shipley end of Manningham lane is the BEST Italian in Bradford
• Rawal is excellent although at the high end of the price range. Nawab is definitely one of the best upmarket places. Naseeb is very popular with the locals up at Lidget Green
• Rawal, round the corner from the Kashmir. Can't beat it.
• The Loveapple does good coffee. And the Ring o' Bells at thornton is good as well.
• The Cocina - the best Mexican restaurant in the world! Far better than any other Mexican food I've tasted in the States or Europe.
• For a good value, tasty Mexican treat try COCINA on Manningham Lane. Nice & informal & getting smashed on frozen margaritas RULES. see ya there
• the Itaila cafe on great horton road has to be seen to be belived, the quality of the food and the frienldy service is second to none. reccommend any of the traditional italian fare, of if not the chicken and mushroom pie is divine.
• Naveebs on Morley Street deliver excellent pizzas within a very acceptable time limit.
• The Kashmir on Wilton Street, just up from the Alhambra - any other nominations are just wrong.
• K2 Lumb Lane, without question the finest Balti Murgh this side of the K2 itself. Cheap no frills; Egon Ronay listed.
• A lot of very good fruit can be found in Asian stores around Bradford because the asians can be bothered to get up to the wholesalers and buy all the decent stuff before other people can get out of bed. So check out those asian supermarkets.
• The Silver Jubilee is the main attraction of Maningham, however I do not recommend this Bangledeshi restaurant to a non-Bradfordian because it is a bad area to be in if you don't know it. The Silver Jubilee wins a big prize off me for its exellent onion bhajis (the best in Bradford from a curry fanatic).
  This is indeed a very good place to eat. But Manningham is not an area to avoid as you currently say. I take my young children there, no problems. It is no more unsafe than other city areas in Britain. You add to its undeserved bad name outside Bradford by unsubstantiated suggestions that the area should be avoided. The bad name was maybe got outside because it was the site of riots in 1995 - that's not a reason to avoid the place now.
• The good quality cheap places are the Karachi (Neral Street), the Kashmir, the Shiraz and the Lumb Lane Sweet Centre!!
• Without doubt the best curry house is the Shabina, or 'Shabby' where many a Friday night/ Saturday Morning is spent in various states of intoxication. Great staff too... really friendly, and don't mind you having a laugh in their restaurant.
• The best curry place in Bradford if you have the money is the Bombay Brasserie by Morrisons. This has some of the best Asian food you can buy anywhere but is very pricey. The Muntaz is ok but it is a bit awkward with the strange quantities the food is sold in.
• The Marlborough near University of Bradford. A classic: best fish and chips.. Birkenshaw round about - a suburb of Bradford using the Maclocklan famous batter recipe handed down for centuries.
• Shabina on Great Horton Road. Great value and chicken masala to die for
• Best Kashmiri food: MUMTAZ (Watch out, strictly no alcohol!)
• Worst value for money food: JAVA CAFE
• Coolest hangout for students, academics, arty-farty types: JAVA CAFE

Pubs

• gaudis is best pub by a mile- can be expensive though, despite the owners pretending otherwise with the odd special offer! ivegate was good but now sadly closed down. avoid shoulder and mutton and the empress- even the arms of the chairs have tattoos in there and there is a piano in the corner with a bandage around its leg!!
• The Peel - the seediest little place you ever saw, right in the middle of a red light district - I love it! Cheap alcohol, near Rios and the uni etc. etc... They do an amazing shot called Tart's C*nt, which you just have to try! Also possibly the only place to do non-mainstream karaoke in B/ford.
• Sir Titus is ok for cheap drinking - just a shame there is nothing going on, Mashed is a pretty good bar, before u head to a club and the new edwards is nice, although not sure about the crowd!
• The pubs up Ivegate are all pretty good these days.....Ivegate bar, Mashed and Addisons......the Red Square vodka bar is quite fun as well opposite the Queens Hall
• a really cool pub to be in in bradford is the Peel a very student orientated place with a good metal scene crowd pre rios
• The Peel sells cheap beer, and is popular with the students, and they don't mind having university teams taking over and playing drinking games. Pubs out in the sticks around Bradford are the best. Try any outside Thornton - the Hill Top for example.
• The Fighting Cock, Preston Street - brilliant beer, friendly regulars, top service and food. Old Bank has a good selection of real ales, Shoulder of Mutton (Sam Smiths) good food here and fab beer garden
• The Ivegate Bar, Edwards
• The Star - polite quasi-bohemians in very old pub. Chat and astonishing Bass. A strange lack of young women. Old Green Tree - similar to above with the astonishing Pitchfork beer, more cosmopolitan clientele, and the very sexy Donna as manager. Cosy and cool. Beehive (Landsdown Hill): Rough cheap cider, rough cheap people. Sexy in a tawdry kind of way. Rich girls like to slum it in here.
• Varsity - Wicked place to chill Wetherspoons - Good fire in the winter. Sycamores - Dont even go there!!!!!!!!
• Gaudi's is great! Stylish, clean, cool juke-box (Seventies rule!!!!) - cocktails are a bit pricey, though, and they don't serve Carlsberg. Still a real nice place...and they are open till 2 am!!
• the Scruffy Murphys is now The Head. The New Beehive Inn has an eccentric landlord(as well as punters)is frezing cold and the beer isn't kept well.
• If you want to sample the best pub food in Clayton you could do worse than pay a visit to the Fiddlers Three on Pasture Lane. It has the best pub grub served by the friendly staff (I know, I'm one of them!)
• FREESTYLE AND FIRKIN
• Blob shop and Firkins are the best pick up spots (if you are into students) although they do have early clubbers there too!
• The Fighting Cock, near the Uni, won best Camra pub loads - excellent real ales
• The Peel - Complete dive, full of students but it's £1.30 for for double vodka and coke.
• Apart from the pubs in Bradford town centre, Wibsey has the best selection of pubs making it a good area for a pub crawl.
• A scree of horrible chain pubs have recently sprung up on the road next to the Alhambra. These range from the okay-ish Varsity and Hogshead to the Freestyle and Firkin (late liscence, long queues) down to the dire Chigago Rock Cafe (sometimes 21+). Old favourites the Blob Shop and Queens Hall are also nearby. Although they're all rubbish they are nice and handy.
• Windows cafe bar next to the ice rink and the Naitional Museum of Photography offers great coffee and a freindly atmosphere,as well as cheep Gunness and a kick ass jukebox.
• Anything but a Wetherspoons!
• Sunday night Sycamores is good (Eccleshill) Edwards is busy on Friday and Saturday (Ivegate) Also The Courthouse can be good on weekends
• Tumblers ( the club) is no longer and it is now a posh bar which is worth checking out (the floor isn't sticky like in Tumblers). Best place to hang out is the Tut 'n' Shive - the quizzes are great. The Freestyle and Firkin, behind the Queens Hall is pretty cool.
• The best ( and one of the cheapest) pub in Bradford is the Goldsbourgh off Bolton Road, no students just good beer and a resonable Juke box.
• Calico Jacks in Little Germany has a nautical theme and serves ale by the jug. Nice place - a bit out of town and on it's own but worth a trawl!
• To me, if a pub is in Bradford and hasn't become 'A Tetleys House' it is a good pub, the one exception to that is 'Scruffy Murphys' - it used to be a great, popular pub called the Mannville - the marketing men pulled it apart, installed a theme and convinced the gullible it was a good pub. This happens a lot - fortunately it doesn't happen a lot in Bradford.
• Westleigh: I have yet to meet the landlord, but the jukebox has the best selection of music this side of the Pennines. The Peel: Not nice. Pool for 30p though, makes it a decent spot if you've got an hour to waste.
• Castle of Grattan Road. 1995 Pub of the Year voted by local members of CAMRA. Constantly changing guest beers. Regular Ales from Mansfield.
• The best pub in Bradford has to be "The Gallopers" on Wakefield road. For a start, it serves Creamflow beers, and it is the only place I know with nice stones!!

• Scruffy Murphy's

  The best Guinness in Bradford by a mile, and despite being a chain, and a concept pub, it is very friendly, and has bands on.

  The Shearbridge

  A favourite student pub on Great Horton Road, packed in term times especially Friday nights prior to the University's Friday Night Disco. Very friendly and lively pub, and near to banks, and other pubs - fatal!

  The Westleigh

  Used to be excellent, but fills up with student bashers (if you are not careful). The landlord is a bit of a wanker too.

  The White Horse, Great Horton.

  A bit far out, all the way up Great Horton road, but is excellent and looks after its beers too. A good juke box, sky sports, and the Sunday night 'Bag O' Shite' pub quiz is compered by Big Ian.

  The Biko bar

  Original title for a student bar (Not), but is the only student bar which is a member of CAMRA. Often has flaky student types in there but is a good starting point for a night out.

  The Mainline Bar

  In the centre of the University, and part of the Commie building... great for meeting freshers in October, but soon fills up with thespians and other twats who sit on the floor.

  The FND

  Bradford Uni's infamous Friday Night Disco ... £2 in (with a Union card) and promos most weeks ... a good blend of cheesy dance, Britpop, 80's, 70's funk ... something for everyone. Most people are pissed out of their heads in there, so best you do likewise. Then on to the Shabby!

• I would advise avoiding Tumbler's (down past the Richmond building) any time during school holidays as the place, is over-run by giddy, kids. Also, if you are into Irish music and tradition then avoid Scruffy Murphy's as this is merely a theme pub (a chain of pubs infact) and the only really good traditional stuff can be found at Mag's where there is always loads of good live bands playing (watch out for the Seven Little Sisters - excellent).
• Admiral Nelson on the Manchester Road. Visit it for a real taste of working class UK. In fact do a pub crawl on the Manch as it is known...

• New Beehive Inn

  Gas lighting, pool table, ginormous selection of beer, great mix of punters from students to crusties to brickies to drunks.

  Tut and Shive

  Excellent selection of beer, widescreen tv for sports, superb pinball machine, but still a serious drinkers' hangout. BONUS: It's where the nurses from nearby Bradford Royal Infirmary go to drink. Oh yes.

  Willowfield

  Pub from heaven with Sky sports, cheap food, pool tables, darts table footie and wide selection of beers

  Westleigh

  Sells Theakstons and Gillespies.
  [Or:]
  The Westleigh is crap, crap beer, crap landlord, crap.

• Best pub in Bradford (from a Bradfordian) is the Fighting Cock, off Thornton Road. The best pint of Timothy Taylors Golden Best to be found within the city.
  [But:] The Fighting Cock has change from brilliant to trash. It has been decorated, beer mats pulled down and has lost all its charactor. I still recommend it but if you were a regular, you will have seen the change and most probably not like it.
  The best pint in Bradford comes from the Fighting Cock (A Proper Ale House) it is called Black Sheep (a growing name in Yorkshire). The Brewery is positioned near Ripon, in Masham. There aren't very many places in Bradford you can try this drink, and it comes best from the F.C. in the form of Black Sheep Special. (also try the bitter and rigwelter (guest ales, sometimes at the F.C.).

Cafes and Coffee Shops

• LOVE APPLE-the ONLY place to go.
• If you're after a sarnie or pasty etc just pop into Greggs- I like the one on Ivegate best as it has REALLY friendly staff! They're lovely and the food is great value for money compared with other places that sell butties in town.
• blades cafe in the sk8in rink is the best.
• Starbucks!!!!!! That place is lovely!
• Cafe Retero - waitresses to melt to. Jazz Cafe for breakfasts. Not enough greasy spoons at all.
• Acropolis Coffee Bar and Tea Rooms opposite City hall. (Now moving to Broadway). Also that one in the Arndale Centre...Masserellas
• The Starbucks inside Waterstone's - heavenly Latte! The Loveapple is good, too...however, the place was better before they redecorated the inside. Now they play Techno and trance on weekends which sucks. Way too mainstream now but they still got very friendly staff. The Chicago Rock Cafe is the pits! Full of beer-bellied old blokes, they never play a song entirely without the DJ squealing something like 'Come on now, everyone on the dancefloor!!!' right in the middle of it. Clientele extremely fresh-faced.
• Java has now closed down.
• Coming from America, Windows cafe bar next to the ice rink has the only decent cup of coffee in North England. The place is great! it has loads of coffee and espresso drinks, many with shots of booze, all at very resonable price.
• CAFE ASIA,CAFE JAVA AND THE CAFE HOUSE

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Last updated: 2008-05-15